Many potentially hazardous tasks require the employee to have adequate eyesight or hearing. For example, the police estimate that 15% of drivers cannot see sufficiently clearly to drive legally and safely. The same may also be true for forklift drivers working in poorly lit areas. The fact that individuals have to pay for an eye test puts many low paid workers off testing their eyesight, which has the potential to have a big impact on both them and your business.

Caritas can help you to institute sight testing procedures for your employees – please contact us for further information.

The Noise at Work Regs 2006 lowered the action levels on noise exposure to:

1. 80dBA
2. 85dBA
averaged out over the 8 hour working day.

A large number of workplaces that previously used the control measures appropriate to above first action level but below second action level will now have to introduce health surveillance. The Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 requires Health Surveillance to be instituted above action level 2.

Caritas can perform surveillance to the Quality Standard HSE’s MS26 as a one-off measure, tell you who has and who does not have hearing loss, help you to control the risk further, and advise on appropriate PPE and Noise reduction methods. Please contact us to discuss this in more details.